Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system for an aircraft comprising main display means including:
at least one basic screen, and
means for handling the graphical interface of said or each basic screen, the handling means being able to display separately on the main display means at least one first display window and at least one second display window, each display window displaying at least one pictogram representative of a parameter and/or of a control of the aircraft.
Description of the Related Art
Such a display system is intended to be placed in the cockpit of an aircraft for assisting the crew of the aircraft with the handling and flying of the aircraft.
In a known way, the display systems present in the cockpit of aircraft comprise screens for displaying flight parameters, such as the altitude, the horizontal situation, the air speed, the vertical speed, the corrected air speed (CAS), information relating to the engine, and to the sustentation configuration of the aircraft.
The information is generally represented on a screen called a Primary Display Screen (or Primary Display Unit) placed facing each pilot.
Moreover, a known display system further comprises one or more multi-functional screens intended for displaying pictograms representative of the navigation parameters of the aircraft, as well as pictograms representative of the parameters or of the controls of functional systems of the aircraft.
The navigation parameters of the aircraft for example include topographical data, approach data, information on the heading, on the beacons, and more generally on the positioning of the aircraft relatively to the ground.
The data relating to the functional systems notably include displays of parameters measured on the different hydraulic, electric, propulsion systems or on avionic systems of the aircraft, such as engine pressures, temperatures and states of the avionic systems.
Taking into account the large number of parameters to be displayed on the multi-functional screens, the pictograms are distributed in several selectively displayable windows by one or several screens. In order to access these different windows, the user of the display system generally uses a control member associated with this screen. He/she navigates between the different windows according to a predefined tree structure.
For this purpose, the device system generally includes a man/machine interface for example formed by a keyboard and/or a control member of the mouse type allowing access to the different windows. Each of the members of the crew generally has his/her own interface for being able to manipulate the data present on the multi-functional screens and navigate between the different windows.
Taking into account the complexity of the systems present on an aircraft, and the navigation software packages to be manipulated, the pilots have to be able to easily navigate rapidly between the different menus, in order to apply adequate procedures during the different flight phases. Navigation between the windows is further made necessary during possible malfunctions occurring on the aircraft.
For this purpose, although the ergonomics of use of the screens and windows is carefully predefined, it is sometimes complex to again find a specific functionality required by a given procedure during a flight phase, notably when the crew has other tasks to be carried out, or when the task has to be carried out rapidly and in a specific order.
In order to simplify the work of the crew, U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,406 describes a display system which, by simply pressing on different buttons, allows display of the windows corresponding to given flight phases, for example an ascent phase, a cruising phase, and a descent phase of the aircraft. The pieces of information required for piloting the aircraft in each of these phases are therefore arranged per categories depending on the flight phase, which gives the possibility to the pilots, by actuating a simple button, of accessing a large number of relevant data.
However, such a display system does not give entire satisfaction. Indeed, there remains a large number of operational situations in which the crews have to move on with a plurality of control or verification actions which have to be carried out on dispersed windows and/or screens through the display system.